Trolley seen as way to reduce Town Center traffic woes

The Town Center trolley picks up customers on Market Street in the Town Center Improvement District. The Woodlands hopes to soon reduce passengers' wait times by more than half.

Photo: David Hopper, Freelance

Transportation officials in The Woodlands hope to cut wait times for their trolley service by more than half as part of an effort to create a more viable transit option in Town Center, the busy shopping district.

The Woodlands Development Co., is seeking to expand the transit and pedestrian corridor that runs through Town Center to reduce the number of people driving from store to store. The company submitted a plan to the Houston-Galveston Area Council last week seeking federal funding for the corridor expansion, which is slated for review this month.

Woodlands Township Board officials support the expansion because it would allow them to put more trolley buses on the road and to extend their service routes from 1.5 miles to about 3 miles.

"There's currently a 20- to 30-minute wait time to ride on a trolley," said Mike Bass, a Township Board member who sits on the Woodlands Transportation Committee. "That's a wait time that a tourist may sit and wait for, but not someone who wants to get around."

Officials want to cut the wait time for The Waterway Trolley - a free, daily service - to less than 10 minutes, Bass said.

Residents have grown increasingly concerned about traffic in Town Center, particularly on weekends, and officials say their No. 1 complaint comes from residents who say they sit too long in traffic. Bass said The Woodlands is eager to add stops and trolleys to meet transit demands in the community's commercial center.

'They set the rules'

The Township is also evaluating ways to make the trolley system more efficient, including an ongoing transit study that's expected to conclude this fall, he said.

According to early design plans, the trolley service, which carries more than 100,000 passengers per year, would be extended from Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion westward toward Lake Woodlands and then north to Hughes Landing.

The trolley extension would add several new stops. It would cost about $2 million, according to Houston-Galveston Area Council records, and plans call for constructing pedestrian walkways and bridges, landscaping and providing access and benches that comply with the American for Disabilities Act.

The project is considered part of a joint Capital Improvement Program developed by the Brazos Transit District and the Woodlands Development Co.

Officials hope to submit the project for funding as part of the Houston-Galveston Area Council's 2015-2018 Call for Projects, which is a process that allow local entities to contend for federal funding.

Adam Clark, Houston-Galveston Area Council director, said he expects that around $200 million will be available for transportation-related projects in the region. He said the process is competitive and that each project is reviewed by the Transportation Policy Council, which is made up of local elected officials.

"They will determine which projects are considered priority," Clark said.

Clark said the policy council will also determine and assess the benchmarks that each project must meet to be given priority and to get funding.

"They set the rules," Clark said.

The center was created through a partnership that includes The Goodman Corp., the Brazos Transit District, the Federal Transit Administration and The Woodlands Development Co.

Transit corridor

Officials say the $20-million pedestrian and transit corridor wouldn't have been possible without the partnership.

"Since its very creation the (corridor) has always been to address traffic," Bass said. "What we and the development company are doing now is improving connectivity and navigation."

The corridor was designed to serve as the backbone of transit development that could be expanded as the need for space grows. The project is one of several that transportation officials hope will ease congestion.

The Woodlands Township has also proposed building a new transportation center in Town Center on the southwest corner of Six Pines Drive and Lake Robbins Drive.

Officials said the center will act as a central hub and collection point for the expansion of the trolley service to Hughes Landing.

They anticipate that the center could also serve other transportation modes as the Township considers reverse commuting, shuttle service and other transportation options.

The Township has lined up financial support for the transportation center in the form of a $1.8-million federal grant from the FTA and about $3.6 million from the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

Woodlands officials said the project will help handle the growing number of motorists in the area.

John D. Harden is a data and breaking news reporter for the Houston Chronicle.

He joined the Chronicle in spring 2014.

In 2017, National Press Foundation honored the Houston Chronicle for it's series Chemical Breakdown. The judges praised the application John helped code, which was central to the series. The application allowed readers to look up chemical facilities with a "potential for harm" that exist in their backyards.